1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to transferring data to a cloud storage device, and more specifically to using a data management server to store and send access tokens for accessing cloud storage devices to the local user terminals.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user terminal may communicate with a dedicated cloud server to store and access data. FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating conventional architecture for storing and accessing data on a cloud service server 130 by a user terminal 114. The cloud service server 130 may service multiple user terminals 114, each having an account in the cloud service server 130. The user terminal 114 may be used by a user to upload data to or download data from the cloud service server 130 via network 110 (e.g., Internet).
However, the total amount of data that can be uploaded by a user may be restricted for various reasons. One of the reasons for such restriction is that cloud storage service providers typically offer a limited amount of free storage space per account. In order to mitigate the restrictions imposed by the cloud storage service providers, the user may create multiple free accounts with several cloud storage service providers, and thereby effectively increase the total amount of cloud storage available to the user.
In order to alleviate inconvenience associated with managing accounts for multiple cloud service servers 130, an aggregator server 120 may be used as illustrated in FIG. 1B. The aggregator service server 120 provides a single access connection point to several cloud storage service servers, synchronizing data to a designated folder on a designated user terminal 114. All upload and download synchronizing traffic pass through the aggregator server 120. For this purpose, the aggregator server 120 maintains access tokens for different cloud service services 130 and routes data between the user terminal 114 and the cloud service servers 130.
Although many cloud storage service providers provide dedicated synchronizing tools, each synchronizing tool is relevant only to certain cloud service servers 130. The user terminal 114 where local synchronization client software resides also requires provision of frequent two-way communications with the aggregator server 120 to compare index updates, upload data or download data for synchronization. For tablet and mobile devices, this method consumes additional battery life due to the frequent synchronization communications.